Peggy Li Creations Blog

FAQ: How Do I Make a Homemade Jewelry Tumbler?

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

When you run a small business like Peggy Li Creations handmade jewelry, you learn to make the most of your jewelry resources and supplies and pick up any great tips to make your jewelry making life easier and simpler. OK, so here's a great tip I picked up from some wonderful jewelry making instructors. It's easy to make a homemade jewelry tumbler! What are tumblers good for? You can use a tumbler to help remove firescale from your soldered metal pieces, harden homemade headpins/earwires (that you make from dead soft wire), and polish/harden your sterling silver pieces!

Here's what you need:

Clean plastic mayo/peanut butter/sturdy plastic jar with screw-top lid. Not too big, because you'll be shaking it with your hands.

Put shot in the jar about 2/3 of the way in. Put a little dishwashing liquid in with the shot and water to cover in the jar.

Wire your silver pieces together (so they are easier to fish out) and drop them in the jar.

Shake, shake, shake! Give it a good shake for a few minutes. Remove your pieces, rinse well.

Don't forget to dry your shot thoroughly when done. I like to spread it out across a towel.

Another great alternative is to take some tupperware and use that if you don't have a clean plastic jar. It leaks a little when you shake, so be careful!

Blue Dawn soap and a tupperware-style container as your tumbler. I have 1 lb of shot in there!

That's it! Now, there is some debate as to whether tumbling actually "work hardens" metal, with many folks saying it does not do this. At the very least, a good tumble will clean and polish your pieces, so there is certainly still benefit to finishing your jewelry pieces in a tumbler.
Be sure to check out my handmade jewelry creations at Peggyli.com.

*UPDATE* - since this post I have since purchased a tumbler for my studio (my arms were getting tired!). I purchased a Lortone Tumbler, 3lb capacity from one of my fave supply stores, Beaducation. There is a handy video on the website as well, so check it out!

By stainless shot, I mean "stainless steel shot" -- these are metal pieces made of stainless steel that is sold specifically for use in metal finishing. They come in an assortment of shapes (pins and balls, usually) to make sure they impact all sorts of surface shapes when in your tumbler. You can see an example here: Rio Grande Stainless Mixed Shot

Use about a cup of shot, depending on the size of the container. Give yourself room for the items to move around!

Hmmm, just a thought, but if you taped it and secured a towel around it, would it work in the dry using the fluff (no heat) setting...? Might just have to try it out for when my tumbler is occupied with rocks. ;)

I guess I would be one way to get my arms in shape! I was wondering about bbs. would those work? I know they're not different sizes or shapes but was curious what you thought. We go through a lot of peanut butter at my house and I find them extremely9 useful for holding many things, especially fluids.

The kind of "shaking" I need for my gemstones to polish would take days, even weeks, constantly, day and night. My arms could not take shaking it that long! I think I'll buy me a jewelry tumbler. (I have tendonitis in my shoulder.) Too painful and not practical. Thank you for the idea, though. Very clever!

I, too, am new to this; I've been gathering some materials before I jump in with the clay, but I was wondering if just rolling the container, either with your hands or your foot would work. How long does it take? 5 minutes? 1/2 hour? and how will you know when it's "done?" I guess I'll need to fish out the PB container from the recycling bin! Thanks for all of your efforts to educate! It's people like you who help people like me ever get started!

Hi Barb,Yes, any way you can agitate the container will work. I've since learned that tumbling is really only a surface finish - no such thing as using a tumbler to "work harden" completely. I'd say it takes a few minutes just to get a great shine/clean up the pieces.